Bathup

Ingredients

The dough

• 300 gplain flour
• or a mix of plain and wholemeal
• half a teaspoon salt
• about 160 ml water

The meat

• 200 gdried beef
• sha kam, the Bhutanese dried meat
• or 300 g fresh beef, thinly sliced
• or dried yak, where available
• soaked for 2 hours if dried

The broth base

• 2 tablespoonsoil
• or butter
• 1large onion, sliced
• 4 clovesgarlic, sliced
• a thumb of ginger, cut into strips
• 2tomatoes, chopped
• optional
• 1.5 litreswater or stock
• salt, to taste

The greens and chilli

• a large bunch of spinach
• or mustard greens
• or turnip tops, shredded
• 2or 3 dried red chillies
• or 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
• 1fresh green chilli, slit
• optional
• half a teaspoon Sichuan pepper
• or thingye, optional

To serve

• ezay, the Bhutanese chilli relish
• extra chilli flakes
• a spoonful of cheese, optional

Directions

1. Cover it with warm water for at least two hours. Overnight is better if you have the time. Keep the soaking water and use it in the broth. It relies on drying and cold to be safe.
2. Adjust it to your own tolerance without apology. Put the flour and salt into a bowl. Add water gradually while mixing with your hand. Bring it together into a firm dough. It should be noticeably firmer than a bread dough. Cover it and leave it thirty minutes. Heat the oil or butter in a large pot.
3. Add the sliced onion and cook it until soft. Give it about eight minutes over a medium heat. Add the garlic and the ginger strips. Cook them for two minutes more. Add the dried chillies, broken up.
4. Add the tomatoes if you are using them. Cook until they collapse. Add the soaked dried meat and its soaking water. Add the rest of the water or stock. Bring it to a simmer. Dried meat needs about forty minutes to soften. Simmer it gently rather than boiling it hard. Skim off any scum that rises at first.
5. Season it with salt and taste it. The broth should taste good on its own. Take a piece of dough in your hand. Flatten and stretch it between your fingers. Pinch off small flat irregular pieces.
6. Drop them straight into the simmering broth. They should be thin and roughly thumbnail sized. Work steadily so they go in over a few minutes. Stir the pot as you go so they do not stick together. They cook quickly, in about five minutes.
7. Taste one to check there is no raw flour. Add hot water if it becomes too thick. Add the shredded spinach or mustard greens. They need only two or three minutes. Add the slit green chilli if you are using it. Add the Sichuan pepper if you have it. Taste and correct the salt one last time. Serve it in deep bowls, very hot.
8. Serve ezay alongside, the chilli relish. Datshi is a fresh soft cheese made from cow or yak milk. Add water when reheating it. Freeze the broth alone if you want to. Make fresh dough pieces when you reheat it.

Technique

• Make the dough noticeably firmer than a bread dough and rest it for thirty minutes. Soft dough dissolves into the broth, and unrested dough springs back and tears when you try to stretch it.
• Stretch each piece thin between your fingers before pinching it off. Thin, irregular, thumbnail-sized pieces cook through; thick lumps stay doughy in the middle, which is the failure here. Neatness is not the aim.
• Season the broth more strongly than seems right before the dough goes in. The plain dough dilutes it considerably, which is the standard rule with any dumpling soup.
• Soak dried meat for at least two hours, overnight if you can, and keep the soaking water for the broth — it carries a great deal of flavour. It stays chewy after soaking, and that chewiness is part of the dish.
• The atlas gives no instructions for air-drying meat at home. Traditional dried meat relies on drying and cold rather than cooking, home drying carries real risks including botulism, and the omission is deliberate. Buy it made or use fresh meat.
• The dough releases starch and the soup thickens as it cooks, and again as it stands. That is wanted; add hot water if it goes too far.
• Add the greens in the last two or three minutes only. Mustard greens are peppery and traditional; spinach is milder and easier to find.
• Bhutan uses chilli as a vegetable rather than a seasoning — ema datshi, the national dish, is whole chillies in cheese, and chillies are dried on rooftops in autumn as a visible feature of villages. Bathup is usually made genuinely hot; adjust it to your own tolerance.
• Thingye, the Bhutanese relative of Sichuan pepper, gives a numbing tingle rather than heat and is optional.
• Datshi, the fresh Bhutanese cheese, barely melts and goes stringy rather than smooth. Feta or a fresh curd is the nearest substitute abroad.
• Bathup belongs to a Himalayan family that includes Tibetan thenthuk and thukpa and their Nepali, Ladakhi and Sikkimese relatives. They share a technique and a climate rather than being the same dish.

Substitutions

• Thinly sliced fresh beef replaces dried meat and cooks in about half the time.
• Air-dried beef or unspiced biltong is the nearest substitute for sha kam abroad.
• Dried yak is used at higher altitudes and dried pork, sikam, is also common.
• Spinach, mustard greens or turnip tops are all used; mustard greens are the most traditional.
• Feta or a fresh curd cheese replaces datshi if you want to stir cheese through.
• A vegetarian version with mushrooms in place of the meat follows the same method.

Variations

• Puta, buckwheat noodles from Bumthang, is another Bhutanese noodle dish and a quite different one.
• Thenthuk, the Tibetan hand-torn noodle soup, is the closest relative outside Bhutan.
• Thukpa, the broader Himalayan noodle soup, uses cut noodles rather than pinched dough.
• Ema datshi, chillies cooked in cheese, is Bhutan’s national dish and is served alongside rice.
• A version thickened with buckwheat flour is made where buckwheat is the local grain.
• Some households add a beaten egg stirred into the hot broth at the end.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bathup?

Bathup is a soup & stew from Bhutan: hand-pinched dough pieces in broth with dried meat and greens, a cold-weather staple.

How long does Bathup take to make?

Bathup takes 30 minutes plus 30 minutes resting of preparation and 45 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Bathup?

Yes, within limits. Thinly sliced fresh beef replaces dried meat and cooks in about half the time. Air-dried beef or unspiced biltong is the nearest substitute for sha kam abroad. Dried yak is used at higher altitudes and dried pork, sikam, is also common. Spinach, mustard greens or turnip tops are all used; mustard greens are the most traditional. Feta or a fresh curd cheese replaces datshi if you want to stir cheese through. A vegetarian version with mushrooms in place of the meat follows the same method.

What is the most important thing to get right in Bathup?

Add the tomatoes if you are using them. Cook until they collapse. Add the soaked dried meat and its soaking water. Add the rest of the water or stock. Bring it to a simmer. Dried meat needs about forty minutes to soften. Simmer it gently rather than boiling it hard. Skim off any scum that rises at first.